Spending by international visitors to India on their Visa card has increased by 25 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,680 crore ($372 million) during October-December 2005.
Retail goods accounted for the highest spend (34 per cent), followed by accommodation (27 per cent), transport (9 per cent), furnishing (2 per cent) and healthcare (1 per cent).
Out of the 1.9 million transactions made on Visa cards, retail and wholesale outlets accounted for nearly 800,000 transactions, accommodation venues accounted for 342,000 transactions and restaurant, food and beverage outlets accounted for 114,000 transactions.
Jewellery, watches and crystal shops were the biggest gainers from spending on Visa cards, jointly amounting to Rs 150 crore. Spends on Visa card at clothing merchants stood at Rs 146 crore and at other direct marketing merchants Rs 70.6 crore.
The spending on Visa card was 21 per cent of the total foreign exchange earnings of $1,762.46 million from tourism in the fourth quarter of 2005. Visa said visitors from the US and the UK were biggest spenders in India.
The spends made by visitors from the US, the UK, France, Australia and Germany accounted for 63 per cent of the total Visa spending by international cardholders.
European Union cardholders made up 41 per cent of the inbound spend, US cardholders 31 per cent, Asia Pacific cardholders 16 per cent, cardholders from Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa 8 per cent and Canadians 3 per cent.
Almost 93 per cent of Visa transactions were conducted between cardholders and merchants in person and 4.3 per cent of the total international Visa spend in India occurred online.
